Saichō

Saichō(最澄, September 15, 767 – June 26, 822) was a JapaneseBuddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school in Japan, based around the Chinese Tiantai tradition he was exposed to during his trip to China beginning in 804. He founded the temple and headquarters of Tendai at Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei near Kyoto. He is also said to have been the first to bring tea to Japan. After his death, he was awarded the posthumous title of Dengyō Daishi (伝教大師).

Life

Early life

Saichō was born in the year 766 in the city of Ōmi, in present Shiga Prefecture, with the given name of Hirono. According to family tradition, Saichō's ancestors were descendants of Chinese Emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty, however no positive evidence exists for this claim. However, the region where Saicho was born had a large Chinese-immigrant population, so Saicho likely did have Chinese ancestry.

During Saichō's time, the Buddhist temples in Japan were officially organized into a national network known as the Kokubunji system, and at the age of 13, Saichō became a disciple of one Gyōhyō (722-797, 行表). He took tonsure as a novice monk at the age of 14 and was given the ordination name "Saichō". Gyōhyō in turn was a disciple of Dao-xuan (702-760, 道璿, Dōsen in Japanese), a prominent monk from China of the Tiantai school who had brought Northern School Chan teachings, Huayan teachings and the Fan Wang precepts to Japan in 736 and served as the "precept master" for ordination prior to the arrival of Ganjin.

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